“I stand corrected.” Hailey ushered them out of the house and locked the door, her head pain and body aches forgotten. The medicine had done its job.
She only wished there was a pill to cure her ever-growing attraction to Beau Callen.
Beau handed out life jackets to Hailey and Lottie.
“Why do we have to wear these? I’m not a baby.” Lottie yanked on the jacket.
He put his on and made sure Lottie’s was secure. “Safety first, Lil’ Bit.”
“We all have to wear them. See?” Hailey turned in a circle and modeled hers for them. “They’re all the fashion.”
Lottie laughed and twirled around too. “What do you think of mine, dawwwling?”
The haughty tone of her voice made Beau laugh. “Girl, you’re something else.” He took her hand to help her into the johnboat. But Lottie dug in her heels. “What’s the matter?”
“Is it safe?” Her voice shook just a little. “Piper didn’t say anything about a boat.”
“Perfectly safe.” Hailey, who’d already climbed in, held her arms out to her sides. “See, I’m fine.”
Of course, she hadn’t waited for help. If he’d been expecting her to ask for assistance, he’d be waiting a long damn time.
Lottie looked to Beau as if to confirm her mom’s statement. “She’s right. Perfectly safe.”
“Alright.”
“Watch your step and have a seat on this end, opposite your mama.” After Lottie was situated, he carefully lowered himself into the boat and took the middle seat facing Hailey. The late September temperatures were still warm, but he had no interest in taking a dip in Wilson’s Lake.
“Now what?” Lottie held onto the boat as it rocked side to side while he climbed in.
“Now, Beau rows.”
Hailey’s sugary sweet, teasing smile made him want to kiss it from her face. “Now, I row.”
You’re a fool, Callen.
He was finally free to do exactly what he wanted to do. Not that taking care of Clyde the last year of his life had been anything other than what he wanted to do, but it had forced him to put his career on hold. Now, all of his dreams were within reach, and yet, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from becoming more and more entangled with this woman and her kid.
It had to stop. He wouldn’t be unkind, but he’d start drawing some boundaries with them.
Hailey rested her hands behind her and leaned back with her face to the sun. “Good call on the sunscreen, Lottie. It’s a warm day.”
Lottie tugged her hat into place. “Safety first, right Beau?”
He chuckled. “Right, Lil’ Bit.” He rowed for a while, and no one said anything. He figured Lottie’s fear kept her quiet. Hailey soaked up the sun with her eyes closed, and he soaked up the sight of Hailey.
“I think this is as good a spot as any.” He pulled the oars in and laid them on the sides of the small boat, then glanced over his shoulder. “Lottie, can you hand me that green tackle box?”
“Uh-huh.” She pushed it toward him with her foot, her butt firmly planted on the little bench where she sat.
“It’s alright, Lottie. As long as no one does anything crazy, then everyone stays in the boat. It just takes a minute to get used to it.”
“Promise?”
He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. “I promise, darlin’.”
She got to her feet a centimeter at a time. It was like watching a robot come to life. A few long moments of getting the feel of the boat and she picked up the tackle box and walked it to him. “Here you go.”
“Good job.”
He patted the bench he was sitting on, indicating she should sit beside him. “I’m going to bait your hook. Then we’ll cast it in the water and see what we can catch.”
She played with the strap of the life vest she was wearing. “I bet Piper didn’t have near as much fun as I’m having today.”
Beau cut a look at Hailey, whose eyes glistened with moisture. “I bet your dad didn’t either, ’cause he wasn’t with you. I’d say I’m the winner in this contest.”
One side of Lottie’s mouth kicked up. “Me too.” She glanced at her mom. “Don’t you think Beau’s a winner, Mom?”
Hailey quickly wiped a tear from her cheek. “I do.”
And that was it. That was when the Odom women blew his boundaries to hell.
Chapter Eighteen
The Odom women were evil.
That was why Beau was sitting in wet, cold clothes trying to warm up in the Texas sun. Why his tennis shoes were hanging on a tree branch, why his balls had shriveled to the size of raisins, and why Hailey and Lottie couldn’t stop laughing. “Go ahead. Laugh it up.”
Hailey snorted. “It’s not our fault you tried to show off and ended up in the lake.”
Busted. “I wasn’t showing off.” He’d been singing as the women climbed out of the boat. Once they were on the dock, he’d made a spin move and ended up in the lake. While the day was warm, the water was not. Hence his raisin-sized balls.
“He was like… He was like…” Lottie could barely get the words out for laughing. “He was like…” She spun in a circle then fell to the ground.
“Don’t forget the girly scream,” Hailey added while she wrapped a towel she’d found in the truck around his shoulders.
No telling what was on the towel, but at the moment he didn’t care.
“Oh yeah.” His ex-best friend Lottie repeated the move and added a girly scream.
Nice.
Walter, who’d missed all the excitement because he was asleep in the shade, licked Beau’s face.
He leaned his head into the dog’s neck. “At least you’re still on my side.”
“Wanna play, Walter?” Lottie said, and waved the dog’s favorite toy then threw it as far as she could. The animal was off in a flash. Beau had to catch himself with his hand to make sure he didn’t fall.
“Traitor.” He wiped his nose with the towel. “You’ve turned my own dog against me.”
“Sorry,” Lottie sang and started to run after the dog.
Hailey grabbed her daughter’s hand. “Hold on, girly.”
“Why?”
“You need your inhaler before you go running around.”
Lottie took the cylinder type thing and shook it, then inhaled the medicine. After several seconds she exhaled, tossed the container to Hailey, and took off after Walter.
He tightened the towel around his shoulders. “I didn’t know she had asthma.”
She sat down next to him on the blanket. “Since she was a baby. Mostly it’s controlled, but this time of year it can get bad. I’m just being cautious.”
“I had asthma when I was a kid too. It used to scare Clyde to death.”
“It can be scary, mostly because it can go bad so fast.” She watched the dog and the girl fighting over a toy. “I hope she grows out of it too.” She tossed a grape at him, and he caught it in his mouth. “Score!”
Though she was smiling, and he could tell she was having a good time, she looked a little pale. “You feelin’ alright?”
“Just a headache that’s hangin’ around, and my muscles ache, but it’s nothing a little ibuprofen won’t fix.”
“Do you have any?”
She shook her head. “Not with me. I’ll take some at home.”
He removed the towel from his shoulders. “We should leave and get you some medicine.”
“No. I’m fine.” She opened the cooler he’d brought and pulled out a bottle of water. “I’m probably just dehydrated.” Her gaze roamed from his wet head to his bare feet. “Unlike some people.”
“Hardy-har.”
Lottie squealed, and Walter barked. “Besides, she’s having a blast. I don’t want to cut her time short.”
He couldn’t do anything but stare. He knew some mothers put the wants and needs of their children above their own, unlike his own mother. She’d followed right along when his dad had offered her drugs.
According t
o Clyde, his daughter hadn’t cared about anything except Beau’s dad and her next hit. The old man would die again if he knew he’d spoken those words out loud. A gallbladder surgery and pain medication had loosened his tongue, and he’d shared the long-kept secret. Beau’s fifteen-year-old self hadn’t quite known how to process that little tidbit.
Truth be told, the twenty-eight-year-old man still didn’t know what to do with the information.
“What?” She wiped her hand over her mouth. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No.” He glanced out at the lake then back to Hailey’s whiskey eyes. “Lottie’s lucky to have you.”
The flush started at the base of her neck and raced to her cheeks. She looped a piece of hair behind her ear and ducked her head. “I’m lucky to have her.”
He hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “That little dog-napper is one hell of a kid. And despite being married to Derek, I’m pretty sure you did that all by yourself.”
She shrugged and ducked her head again.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You deserve the credit. You only have to meet the guy once to know what he’s about. Besides, I heard what he said about a paternity test.” He shook his head. “How did someone as great as you end up with someone as awful as him?”
“Well, that is a story.” She pulled at a piece of grass next to the blanket. “I was young. Charlie and I were sneaking around with the Odom boys. Hank was three years older than us and Derek was two. It was exciting. He was hot and popular, and he wanted me.” More grass was plucked from the ground. “After Charlie left, I was kind of lost. I had a lot of free time on my hands.” She shrugged. “He didn’t force me to have sex with him. I was crazy in love with him. I wanted to give him that, but I hardly knew what was going on.” She chuckled, but it sounded wrong. “No wonder I got pregnant.”
“Hailey, you don’t have to tell me…”
“No, it’s fine.” She released the air in her lungs. “Anyway, it was only years later that I realized how he’d manipulated me. He said he had needs, and if I couldn’t meet them, he’d find someone who would.” She held a piece of grass up and let the wind take it. “That was probably the beginning of the end. When I finally saw it for what it was, I was furious with him, with myself, with the whole damn world.”
“And the other women?” Every bite of food he’d eaten threatened to come back up. She’d been used and discarded. It made him sick.
One shoulder jerked up. “I don’t really know. It could’ve been just the one time with Ariel, but my gut tells me it was from the beginning. I have no proof though. And nobody in town would’ve told me because they all thought I deserved it.” She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Stupid, petty, small town.”
“Why don’t you leave? You could move to Austin and still run the bar. It wouldn’t be convenient, but you could make it work.”
“I used to dream of getting out of Zachsville. I had a journal full of pictures of all the places where I would travel. I gave it to Lottie. Maybe she’ll be able to go to those places for both of us.” The upward tilt of her lips missed the mark by a mile. “This is where I belong.”
He didn’t buy that bullshit for one minute. This was what she thought she deserved. That was clear as day, but it wasn’t his place to point it out. She wasn’t ready to hear it, and judging by the set of her jaw, she may never be ready.
Sometimes you’re in prison for so long that it begins to feel like home. And Hailey Odom was right at home in a prison of her own making.
“Whoa.” Hailey waved her hands in front of her face. “TMI.” The chuckle that she pushed from her throat sounded forced in the quiet afternoon. “Let’s talk about something else besides me and my sad story.” How had he gotten her to say all that stuff? One thing you learned being public enemy number one was to keep your personal life personal. You never knew who would turn on you and use that information against you.
She glanced at Lottie sitting under a nearby tree. Walter sprawled beside her as she scratched behind his ears and carried on a one-sided conversation with him. “Besides, it’s not all sad.”
“She is somethin’.”
“Yes, she is.” She lay back on the blanket with her arm over her forehead. “Your turn.”
He twisted to one hip and rested his arm on his bent knee. “Not much to tell. You know about my parents and Clyde. I did a little professional steer wrestling until I screwed up my knee. And now I’m here in Zachsville because a cousin I didn’t know I had heard me sing and wanted to sign me to a record deal.”
“You rodeoed? That’s kind of hot.” It was so stinkin’ hot. Wait until she told Charlie.
He threw his head back and laughed. “It’s hard as shit, exhausting, dirty, and fun as hell, but I don’t know about hot.”
“I bet you had all the buckle bunnies chasin’ after you,” she teased, and hoped he didn’t hear the curiosity too.
He shrugged. “One or two.”
It was her turn to laugh. “I bet more than one or two.”
The grin he shot her could probably impregnate a weaker woman. “Maybe. I’m not very good at math.” Little girl giggles peeled through the air. They glanced over to where Lottie and the dog still rested under the tree. “Guess Walter said something funny.”
“Guess so.” She chuckled. “Did you win when you steer wrestled?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you make money?”
“Yeah, I did. I saved all of it. It was going to be my nest egg when I went to Nashville to try to get a record deal.”
“Then the record deal came to you.”
He shook his head like he still couldn’t believe it. “It did. And even though I had to wait a year to take Jack up on the offer, it’s still the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me. I’m so grateful.”
“Why’d you have to wait?”
“Clyde was dying, and I wouldn’t leave him.”
Loyalty. This man understood the meaning of the word. Maybe that’s why they got along so well. She turned to her side and rested her head in her hand. “I’m sure he appreciated that.”
“Then you’d be wrong.” He snorted. “He was mad as a wet hen.”
“Why?”
“He’d wanted me to be a country music star since the first time I picked up a guitar. He thought I was wasting a chance.” He moved his hair out of his face. “I wasn’t, but I couldn’t get that through his thick head. Jack, Gavin, and Luanne let me sign the contract, and we cut two songs, just to shut him up.”
A little line of jealousy for what he’d had with Clyde wound around her heart. “He sounds like he was a character.”
“He was.” Sadness clouded his expressive eyes. “I miss the hell out of him.”
“It’s hard when you lose that one person who’s always in your corner.” Another thing they had in common.
“It is. How long ago did your mom pass?”
She knew the same sadness she’d seen in his eyes now swam in hers. “Not quite two years ago.”
“You’re very loyal to her memory. She must’ve been a great mother.”
Hailey nodded. “She was, but not in the traditional sense. She wasn’t the warm, cookie-baking, boo-boo kissing kind of mother, but she was there for me when no one else was.”
“When you got pregnant?”
She traced the design of the old blanket with her forefinger. “Yeah, she sheltered me from the ugliness going on in the town.”
“Sheltered you?”
“I was terrified of going back to high school.” She made herself meet his eyes. “You can’t imagine the things that were being said to my face and behind my back.”
“That’s such bullshit. It was a stupid football game.”
She shrugged. “Bullshit or not, it’s what was happening. My mom told me I could work at Boon’s, get my GED, so I never had to go back into that environment again. She saved me.”
“And your dad?”
&n
bsp; The bitter edge of her humorless snort cut through the air. “My dad was totally against it, said I needed to finish school. He just wanted to throw me to the wolves.” Beau didn’t say anything, but the wrinkle between his eyes indicated he was thinking about something. “What?”
“Nothin’.”
She pushed up to a sitting position. “Doesn’t look like nothing.”
“I hate that that happened to you. But…”
“But what?” Where was he going with this?
“I don’t know. Maybe if you’d gone back to school instead of hiding out at the bar, you wouldn’t still feel like you had so much to prove now.”
What the hell? “I wasn’t hiding out, Beau. I was protecting myself.”
He held his hands up like he was giving up. “Okay. I get it. Ignore me.”
She stood and grabbed their bag. “I will. It’s getting late. We should go.”
His long body unfurled from his sitting position and he took a step into her space. “Hay—”
“No. I’m done talking.” The volcano threatening to go off in her chest made her voice shake. She turned to Lottie and the dog. “It’s time to go, Lottie.”
“Awwww,” Lottie whined and came to stand next to them. “Can’t we stay a little longer?”
“No, we need to get home. Tell Beau thank you.” Her headache was back, but this time she knew the cause, and she refused to meet his questioning gaze.
Her kid, who hadn’t gotten the memo that they were mad at Beau, threw her arms around his waist. “Thank you, Beau. It was the bestest day.”
He grinned down at his admirer and wiggled the hat on her head. “Anytime, Lil’ Bit.”
“Woohoo!” Lottie punched the air. “You’re awesome, Beau. Isn’t he awesome, Mom?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Hailey had to put an end to the Beau Callen fan club. “Lottie, you and Walter go on to the truck.”
“Okay! Race you, Walter.” The two took off toward the vehicle.
“Hailey.”
Her finger went to within an inch of his face. “You listen to me, Beau Callen. Even though it appears that you’ve got my life all figured out, you don’t know me. You live one day of my life, then you can pass judgment on me. Until then, keep your opinions to yourself.” She marched toward the truck. Her reaction was so far over the top it was ridiculous, and she didn’t want to examine the reason why.
Running After a Heartbreaker (Brides on the Run #4) Page 14
